


The tempest breaks me down

by livinginadaydream (orphan_account)



Category: Disney RPF, Jonas Brothers
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-25
Updated: 2010-08-25
Packaged: 2017-10-12 11:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/124426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/livinginadaydream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wind was blowing, too hard, flattening bullets of rain into the windows, the pavement, the plants, and they were stuck inside because of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The tempest breaks me down

"Joe?" Nick was looking out the window, sitting on his knees with his legs crossed behind him. The mauve-colored cushions were creased under the pressure even though really, he barely weighed anything at all. His eyes were focused on one point for several seconds at a time, counting, and then moving on to a different area, sometimes right in front of him, sometimes feet away, sometimes yards, where he couldn't count at all. "When do you think it'll stop raining?" The amount of drops were quickly adding up, striking notes in his mind.

Having been sitting at the piano, Joe had his own notes playing in his mind, but he only touched the keys, not pushing them down, not making a sound but a low hum. "Hmm..." he began a moment after hearing the question as he swung a leg over the bench and then the other before standing and walking up to Nick behind the window seat. "I dunno, Nicky." He ruffled the younger boys' hair, enjoying the feel of soft curls between his fingers. It was better. Better than sand between your toes, not that he'd actually had many chances to experience that.

"But you know, it's not the rain keeping us in; it's the wind." Joe looked up from Nick, and out the window. There was part of a tree down on the ground a little ways down the street. It would probably end up in someone's way, on the way home from work or a dinner at a family members' house. Hopefully a strong guy, who could get out of his car and move it. Had dad been there, Joe would have told him, so that maybe he could go get it first, but dad was picking mom up from the grocery store. She didn't feel safe driving back in this weather, so he had left Kevin in charge before pressing his hand to the top of his hat, the other to the opening of his jacket, and running out of the house toward the car with keys in hand.

He hated when dad got irritated like this. Dad always forgot that Kevin was always in his own world, and that Joe and Nick were basically alone anyway, so why did he even have to give Kevin permission to boss them around? It wasn't often, but sometimes their older brother enjoyed his position in charge just a little too much. Like, _"Joe, do your homework. Nick put the dishes away; mom likes the kitchen clean."_ And fine, he would always say please, and he actually helped Joe with his homework, and so okay, he cleaned the rest of the kitchen when Nick only did one part of it. But still.

Luckily, Kev had gotten a new movie yesterday, and Danielle was over watching it with him. They always kept each other pretty occupied, so Joe and Nick didn't have to do chores, or anything they didn't really want to.

Nick was silent for a few moments before turning his neck to look his brother in the eyes. "Yeah... I guess it is pretty windy out there." An understatement, to be sure. "It'd be bad for my voice." Joe just nodded at Nick's imploring gaze, with a small smile. He didn't actually know if that was true. He did know that although Nick with a cold was kind of cute, it was also kind of terrible. Seriously, seeing Nick helpless, and actually getting to help the self-sufficient kid made Joe sort of happy. But that was just it. Nick being helpless was actually really sad, and kind of difficult to handle, not only for the rest of the family, but for Nick. So even though he was the littlest, when Nick was sick, he was pretty much in charge of everyone. He would have been anyways, because yeah, the cuteness, but then add Nick's stubbornness and hostile denial into the mix, well, it was a no-no to refuse him.

Frankly, Joe didn't believe that temperatures could cause someone to get sick, but mom had said it did, and he wasn't going to risk his baby brother for an experiment. He wouldn't have minded using himself or Kevin, but Kevin was definitely busy, by the sound of laughter coming from the family room, and Nick wanted _his_ company.

Twisting his lips a little, Joe bent lower to Nick's head saying, "Sorry. I know you're bored. Wanna play a board game or something?" His offer was nice. Nick was thinking about it seriously, but it didn't take long to decide. He watched a pile of leaves as they swirled passed the house, and knew that no way would a board game fix his boredom today. Being outside was just awesome. There was so much to see and do. Being inside wasn't awful most of the time; it was just when he was forced to be that it felt more like a prison cell than a haven.

Uncrossing his legs and turning around to actually sit on the cushions, Nick bit the inside of his lip. "Um... Not really Joey." His face was crinkled, obviously hoping not to hurt his brothers' feelings by saying no. It was just so sweet that Joe couldn't help but laugh at the implied 'sorry' in Nick's expression. He just made it impossible not to love him.

Sighing contentedly, Joe lightly slapped the side of Nick's face, grinning widely, telling him to, 'Come off it. Like I'd ever be mad at you.' Nick giggled. Seriously, one of the best sounds ever. Joe would much rather have a recording of Nick laughing than singing... If only people understood what he did about his little brother. But, oh well. When he wanted to hear it, Joe could pretty much always elicit a laugh, so he was set for life. It was everyone else who was missing out that he felt sorry for.

"Well," Joe said, as he began turning, swinging an arm around Nick's shoulder, and settling himself beside the younger boy, "What do you want to do then?" Almost the second he asked, he regretted it. Yeah, okay, sure, so he was putty in Nick's hands. That was the _problem_. Joe loved Nick to death, but Nick sort of had a one-track mind, which sometimes, he just couldn't handle. Joe was sort of rebellious. He needed space to roam. Once Nick set his mind to something though, well, forget it; Joe was glued to the situation as much as Nick was - if Nick asked him to be.

This mischievous twinkle practically burst from Nick's eyes like a firecracker. He didn't even need to _say_ anything. "Nick. No. Come on..." Joe whined in vain, "Listen little bro. You're always singing, right? And that's great. I love it. We all love it. But come on Nick, I don't want to, okay?" But it was too late. Nick was smirking. He'd won before the game had even begun. Joe rolled his eyes before lowering his hand to the middle of Nick's back, pushing the boy off of the window seat, to his feet. Groaning as Nick pulled him to his feet, toe to toe, Joe grabbed hold of Nick's hand and pulled him to their pretend microphone set. Seriously, if he was going to do this, he was going to do the dragging. 


End file.
